Unsheathed

Chapter 416 (1): If There’s Any Unhappiness in the World

There were three moons in the sky.

This was a phenomenon that definitely wouldn’t be seen in the Majestic World.

The white radiance of the moons freely scattered across the lands, making it appear as if the one hundred thousand large mountains were all covered in thick snow.

However, a rustling sound swept through the undulating mountains, and this sound could easily travel several hundred kilometers.

If an immortal were allowed to soar through the sea of clouds and look down, they would see numerous golden puppets that were as tall as mountains slowly moving the large mountains around.

There were also some ancient beasts that measured three kilometers in length and were riddled with wounds. Without exception, they were all being ordered around by the golden puppets with long whips and being forced to act as kuli. Regardless of how exhausted or angry they were, they still had no option but to carry the large mountains around.

They would occasionally be granted a brief moment of respite, and during these moments, the exhausted beasts would use the mountains as their pillows as they slept. These beasts no longer possessed their innate ferocity — this had already been worn away by their endless suffering.

In this world, this scene could only be spread through word of mouth. However, the descriptions slowly changed, becoming more and more incorrect as time went on. The rumors in this world were now vastly different from the reality of the matter.

This was because no one dared to wantonly fly over these one hundred thousand large mountains without permission.

Throughout the course of history, there were indeed some Upper Five Tier great demons who hadn’t believed in this warning. In the end, they had all been dragged down from the sky by the countless golden puppets, ultimately being transformed into yet another great demon kuli. They would eventually become gigantic skeletons that were laid to eternal rest among the mountains, and it was possible that they might not even be able to reincarnate.

There was a dilapidated thatched cottage above the tallest peak, and there was a vegetable garden with a rare brush of green behind the cottage. There was also a crooked wooden fence surrounding the cottage, and an emaciated guard dog was lying at the door and panting softly.

A skinny old man was standing in an empty area in front of the door, and he scratched his cheek as he faced the large mountains and pondered on some unknown matter.

The emaciated dog suddenly jumped up and bound forward before furiously barking in a certain direction.

A majestic gust of astral wind swept forward in a formidable manner, directly blasting apart a sheet of dark clouds that was covering one of the three moons.

The old man remained unfazed.

After the sheet of dark clouds was destroyed, numerous golden puppets around the mountain where the thatched cottage was located stood up, each holding a huge and seemingly exaggerated weapon in their hand. Many of them were holding long spears crafted from the snow-white skeletons of the beasts and demons.

One of the golden puppets tossed its bone spear into the sky, triggering a series of thunderous booms and making it seem as if a brand new world were about to be created.

The bone spear raced toward two pea-sized figures that were located extremely far away.

The two individuals who were visiting from a faraway place were both assuming the form of humans at this moment.

One was a tall and sturdy old man wearing a bright red robe, and there was an undulating sea of blood flowing across the surface of his robe. At the same time, there were also vague outlines of faces twisted in agony attempting to crawl out from the sea of blood. However, these anguished faces would disappear in a flash as they were rapidly dragged down and engulfed once more by the sea of blood.

The sturdy old man was also wearing a pitch-black belt of unknown material, and numerous fragments of shattered swords were embedded inside the belt.

There was a youthful-looking junior standing beside the old man, and a sword hanging on each side of his hip. There was also a snow-white sword case resting diagonally across his back, with the hilts of three swords sticking out from the top.

A fervent expression appeared in the young man’s eyes as the bone spear approached its target, yet what he was looking at was the back of the old man standing atop the mountain rather than the bone spear that was rushing toward them.

The old man in red simply glanced at the bone spear, yet this was already enough to obliterate the spear and send its minuscule fragments into the surroundings.

Many other weapons rushed over, yet they all suffered the same fate as the first bone spear, shattering into pieces before they could reach the two visitors.

The old man in red became slightly angry. He wasn’t angry about these attacks, and he was instead angry about the old man atop the mountain looking down on him so severely. He was merely being attacked by those golden puppets? The old man atop the mountain should have at least released those old friends from the underground dungeon to welcome him!

The old man in red chuckled coldly and exclaimed, “Blind Old Man, have you genuinely forgotten who the owner of this place is after living in someone else’s territory for too long? Are you using these golden puppets to tickle me?!”

After saying this, he immediately launched a palm strike and smashed a golden puppet into the ground, causing plumes of dust to rise into the air.

He then continued to attack again and again, and it was as if firecrackers were being set off as the towering golden puppets were smashed into the ground one after another, completely disappearing from view.

The short old man standing atop the mountain finally turned around and “looked” at the two great demons standing at the zenith of this world.

His eye sockets were surprisingly empty, and it was as if they were two pitch-black and bottomless abysses.

The short old man who had been referred to as “Blind Old Man” continued to scratch his cheek.

Theoretically speaking, if a cultivator at the thirteenth tier — or the elusive fourteenth tier with very few members — fought against an opponent at the same cultivation base on their home turf, they would generally be in an undefeatable position and might even have an opportunity to kill their opponent.

Of course, this was unless their opponent possessed an unreasonably powerful weapon. However, such weapons were incredibly rare, and few of them existed even if one cast one’s gaze over the several worlds. Apart from the four swords, there was also the White Jade Capital, the Buddhist beads, a book, and a few other items.

Especially after one advanced to the first tier of the Two Lost Tiers, if one were bored out of their mind and decided to create a ruckus in another world, then it was only natural that they would be suppressed by the regulations of the Great Dao of that other world.

However, the heaven was boundless and the earth was vast, so it wasn’t strange for there to be a handful of exceptions.

For example, the blind old man was an outsider living in the Savage World, yet he was surprisingly leading a more carefree life than the actual owners of this world.

Similarly, the stinky Daoist priest in the Majestic World was also able to roam around freely.

“It would make a bit more sense if that person came to visit me instead,” the blind old man replied in a hoarse voice. “As for the two of you? I won’t hold back if you continue to stand so high up.”

The “young man” carrying five swords smiled in response.

As one of the youngest great demons at the Upper Five Tiers, he had participated in that earth-shaking battle to decide the outcome of the war and had even defeated the sword immortal from the Sword Qi Great Wall, ultimately causing his opponent to become the gatekeeper of Stalactite Mountain.

He felt like the blind old man beneath them was indeed very powerful and impressive, yet he wasn’t powerful and impressive enough to act in such a wanton manner.

The old man in red had a dark expression, and his ferocious and violent aura was almost about to freeze the flow of time around him.

In the end, however, he humphed coldly before turning around to leave.

The young great demon sword immortal hesitated for a brief moment, and a slightly hurried voice immediately sounded in his mind’s lake, exclaiming, “Hurry up and leave!”

A colossal pulling force suddenly enveloped the great demon sword immortal.

The great demon sword immortal was just about to seize this opportunity to unleash a sword strike and do battle with the blind old man, yet he saw the old man in red roaring in anger as he rushed over to grab him by the shoulder and furiously tossed him toward the sky.

The old man in red then flicked his large sleeves and unleashed a tumultuous river of blood, attempting to sever the aura that had already locked onto his junior.

Heaven and earth turned, and the intertwining auras became chaotic.

The old man in red felt stifled after being suppressed by the Great Dao of his opponent, and his expression changed slightly as he furiously flicked his large sleeves and transformed several rivers of blood into something akin to a gigantic lake. “Blind Old Man, do you want me to annihilate your one hundred thousand large mountains right at this moment?!” he threatened with a stern expression.

The blind old man stopped scratching his cheek.

Right at this moment, a dignified voice traveled into the extremely large “small world” and said, “That’s enough.”

The old man in red angrily stopped his attack and retracted his mystical ability, causing the long rivers of blood to rapidly flow back into his large sleeves.

The blind old man reached out and made a grabbing motion, directly tugging the great demon sword immortal to his side. The blind old man squatted down, and the young great demon was shocked to discover that he couldn’t move at all. The short old man reached over and dug out one of the great demon’s eyes, popping it into his mouth and chewing it for a moment before turning around and spitting it out in disgust. Upon seeing this, the emaciated old dog immediately began to drool, bounding over in excitement and swallowing the eyeball in a single gulp.

The blind old man stood up and flicked his toes, sending the great demon sword immortal with one missing eye flying with a solid kick. “I’m already giving you face.”

The world fell silent again.

The blind old man clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the courtyard door. As he did so, he “looked” at the old dog and sneered, “Dogs can’t change their habit of eating shit.”

He started to scratch his cheek again, and he turned around to walk to the mountain cliff. He always had a nagging feeling that some “brushstrokes” in this painting needed to be deleted or added to.

He stood there just like that.

After a while, the blind old man suddenly furrowed his brows, hesitating for a brief moment before moving his fingers slightly and causing the golden statues that had just stood up to sit back down again.

This time, his two visitors were an old man and a young woman from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

The blind old man smiled at the travel-worn young woman, a smile that even he felt like was awkward. It was very likely that anyone who saw this smile would feel a sense of eeriness and horror.

He then turned around to look at the old man, shouting in anger, “Chen Qingdu, don’t come here to annoy me! I’m not going to help anyone this time!”

The visiting old man was none other than Chen Qingdu from the Sword Qi Great Wall.

“Are you still human?” Chen Qingdu asked.

“Ask your own conscience, are the two of you still humans?” the blind old man replied.

“I am,” Chen Qingdu replied with a nod.

The blind old man fell silent for a moment before asking, “Regardless of how intense the conflict between the two worlds is, can it be as intense as it was back then? At most, the conflict will merely shatter that so-called singularity into even more pieces. This was the case back then, so will anything change after one thousand years or ten thousand years? Aren’t the worlds still as pathetic as always? What is the purpose? Perhaps it’s better to overthrow everything and completely obliterate the worlds, allowing everything to return to a state of singularity.”

“You deserve to be blind,” Chen Qingdu said.

The blind old man suddenly chuckled and said, “That’s still better than being a guard dog for someone else like you. The hound is boiled after catching the rabbit, just as lackeys are disposed of after serving their purpose. Perhaps once isn’t enough and you want to experience this again? If you ask me, I’d say that you prisoners and refugees have ended up in your miserable current state because of people like you, Chen Qingdu, dragging everyone else down. After living here for so long, do you know why I’ve always been unwilling to look toward the north? I’m afraid that I’ll literally laugh to death after seeing you people, the biggest jokes in the world.”

The blind old man pointed at the trembling old dog at the entrance of the courtyard and asked, “Just look at yourself, Chen Qingdu, are you any better than this dog?”

He then shifted his gaze and said to the young woman with a hoarse chuckle, “Don’t get angry, Little Ning, this has got nothing to do with you. Unlike them, you’re still quite impressive.”

Ning Yao remained silent.

It wasn’t long before Chen Qingdu left with Ning Yao.

The blind old man sighed softly, and he was no longer in the mood to appreciate the so-called painting scroll that was yet to be finished. He walked to the courtyard door, and upon seeing the old dog raise its head obsequiously and pant with its tongue out, he immediately raised a leg and forcefully stomped on its back, causing it to whimper and beg for mercy. The blind old man directly snapped the spine of the ancient great demon that possessed an incredibly tenacious life force. In any case, it would recover in no time after eating the eyeball of the great demon sword immortal.

The blind old man mumbled under his breath as he walked into the courtyard.

Meanwhile, on the parapet of the Sword Qi Great Wall…

Chen Qingdu was sitting there cross-legged, while Ning Yao was sitting there and drinking wine.

“You don’t need to feel angry for me,” Chen Qingdu said in a calm voice. “The blind old man was the one who was hurt the most back then. There’s a rumor in the world that he had a huge battle with an ancestral demon from the Savage World, and it was only after losing that battle that he lost his eyes as well. However, this isn’t true.

“Instead, he personally dug out his eyes a very long time ago, tossing one into the Majestic World and tossing one into the Heavenly World. My purpose for visiting him today was to hear the words ‘I’m not going to help anyone this time’ from his own mouth. This is already a very good result.”

Ning Yao nodded in understanding.

After finishing half a pot of wine, she turned around to look at Chen Qingdu, the old great sword immortal.

Chen Qingdu chuckled in mock anger and exclaimed, “Little Ning, I’m not scolding you or anything, but can’t you go home to check it out? This is Grandpa Chen’s territory, so does it make sense for you to shoo him away?”

Even though he said this, Chen Qingdu still jumped down from the parapet and returned to his thatched cottage.

In reality, he was well aware of the reason behind Ning Yao doing this. Indeed, this was the section of the parapet where Chen Ping’an had practiced his fist techniques in the past.

Ning Yao retrieved a picture scroll from her sleeve and placed the pot of wine aside. She then lay down on the parapet and unfurled the Fleeting Glance Picture Scroll. Was this her third time or fourth time looking at this picture scroll already?

On the picture scroll was the immortal tomb, a location in the small town that she had also visited before. A group of children were flying paper kites, and a tanned and skinny little boy was sitting far away from them by himself. He appeared extremely lonely, and when a child of the same age sprinted past with his paper kite, the child tugged at his kite before squatting down to grab a rock and viciously throw it at him. The tall child then turned around and ran away, laughing loudly as he did so.

Ning Yao extended a finger and poked the picture scroll, directly striking the tall child’s head as she mumbled something under her breath.

After retracting her finger, she quietly watched the remaining scenes in the picture scroll play out.

Ning Yao still had quite a number of similar picture scrolls in her minimization treasure, but she would only look at one of them each time.

She flipped around and lay down on her back, placing her hands behind her head as she gently swayed a leg back and forth.

Her love for him had nothing to do with these picture scrolls.

After looking at these picture scrolls, she simply liked him even more than before.

Who Ning Yao liked had nothing to do with heaven and earth.

Because of her remarks, Chen Ping’an had foolishly chosen to throw one million punches.

Was this very impressive?

Ning Yao opened her eyes, thinking that she would continue to like him even if she died one million times over.